“The Uefa Executive Committee will however remain on standby to convene further extraordinary meetings, on a regular ongoing basis where required, to reassess the legal and factual situation as it evolves and adopt further decisions as necessary, including in light of the declaration of interest expressed by the Russian Football Union for hosting the Uefa Euro.”
Arguably the game of the tournament came the following day when Denmark pulled back a two-goal deficit, only for Portugal to nab the winner three minutes from time. Thousands of Danes and Portuguese flooded Lviv that night, sailing through the same train stations that have for the past month been the gathering point for refugee trains to western Europe.
Their statement ought to have been two sentences long – Russia have expressed interest in hosting the 2028 Euros. Uefa will not be facilitating them. As ever, one of the worst side-effects of bidding for an international tournament is the nonsense Irish politicians get to spout about economic benefits and lifting the spirits of the country and all the nebulous yadda-yadda that goes along with it. But if we have to endure 18 months of them yakadoodling away about this stuff, we should press them on this very simple matter.Uefa put on these tournaments to make money.